Jordan Watch : Jordan in Middle Ranking in the Global Peace Index

It has been like a magnetic attraction between Jordan and the middle ranking of most global surveys and indices. The latest of which is the Global Peace Index developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit in which the indicators of peacefullness were analysed for 121 countries. With no surprise Jordan came at no 63 making it the 9th Arab state after Oman, Qatar, UAE, Tunisia, Kuwait, Morocco, Libya and Bahrain. At the bottom of the list lies Iraq, only preceeded by Sudan, Israel and Russia.

In such surveys, one of the most important factors is the indicators used. In the Global Peace Survey used 24 indicators, and their site gives the source and methodology applied. They include: wars, deaths from internal and external conflict, human rights, political instability, size of security forces and jailed population, military expenditure and sales, and involvement in peacekeeping operations. I see this is a robust and scientifically established analytical method.

It is interesting to see the USA coming at a low position of 96 which is one step ahead of Iran at 97. Of course the most peaceful country should be a scandanvian which is Norway, followed by New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland, Japan and then Finland and Sweden completing the welfare countries. The first developing country in the list is Bhutan (19) and then Oman (22) and Uruguay (24).

According to the ranking Jordan is safer than many more economically advanced countries like Croatia (67), Ukraine (80), Brazil (83) and Turkey (92).

With the security turmoil in all of our neighboring countries, it is always important to appreciate the added values of security and peace in Jordan. The balance between public freedoms and social security has always been a subject of debate, but what makes it an issue to debate is the fact that we can debate it and not having to run for saving our lives from snipers, aretillary shells and bombings that characterise the daily lives of many people in this troubled region.